Pupil premium

In April 2011, the Government introduced the Pupil Premium.

This was additional funding allocated to schools so that they can support their disadvantaged students and close the attainment gap between them and their peers. The students eligible are:

children from low-income families who are eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) or who have been eligible for free school meals at any point over the last six years ( Ever6 )

children who are in Local Authority Care

children who have ceased to be looked after by the local authority due to adoption, a special guardianship order, a child arrangements order or a residency order

The Government believes that the Pupil Premium is the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between disadvantaged children and others by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most.

Pupil Premium at Northgate School

Northgate School is situated in Burnt Oak, although our catchment area extends far wider including all hospital admissions to the Beacon Centre.

The proportion of students for whom we are in receipt of Pupil Premium funding varies significantly.

For the 2015 - 2016 financial year, the numbers of students in each year group for whom we are in receipt of pupil premium were as follows:-

Year Group

Number of students 2015/2016

10

11

1

12

For the 2016-17 financial year, the numbers of students in each year group for whom we are in receipt of pupil premium were as follows:-

Year Group

Number of students 2016/2017

10

11

2

12

2

For the 2017-18 financial year, the numbers of students in each year group for whom we may receive pupil premium are projected to be:-

Year Group

Number of students 2017/18 projected forecast

10

11

12

13

1

Northgate receives £935 additional funding for each child on Pupil Premium where Northgate is the students main school and £1,900 for looked-after children. Where a student is dual registered, the pupil premium often stays with their home school.

For the academic year 2015-2016, we received a total funding of £935. For the academic year 2016-2017, this gave us a total funding of £2805. Our projected funding for 2017-2018 is £935

Our aim for our Pupil Premium students

Nationally, there is a gap between the achievement and progress of students identified as disadvantaged and those who are not and our aim is to continually narrow this gap at Northgate School so that it closes. We have high aspirations for all of our students and strongly believe that no individual should be left behind; our role is to support each student to maximise their progress in school and to take advantage of the wider opportunities it has to offer, and through this, to raise their aspirations for life beyond school. We will aim to ensure that the opportunities that are made available through school help to raise students’ expectations of themselves and to support their future ambitions. We are able to spend the Pupil Premium funds in ways which we think will best achieve this and to support our view that every child matters. We will ensure that disadvantaged students with higher prior attainment are also given the opportunity to enrich their school experience, make accelerated progress and develop high aspirations.

Governors and all members of staff, both teaching and non-teaching, are fully aware of their responsibility for improving the life chances of disadvantaged pupils, be they academic, pastoral or social. They are firmly committed to meeting the needs of this diverse group and our aim is to identify the barriers to learning of disadvantaged students in our community and work with them to eliminate these barriers and enable them to accelerate their progress and develop their potential.

Barriers to learning for our pupil premium students

There is no typical profile of a disadvantaged student at Northgate School but generally speaking students have a number of challenges including:-

Individual mental health challenges

Low self esteem

Low prior attainment

Poor attitude towards learning

Lack of ambition and aspirations

Poor attendance and punctuality

Lack of space to study at home

Lack of parental engagement with education

Reduced involvement in wider school life

barriers specific to individual students

We have found that many of the barriers to reintegration and closing the gap of attainment are related to low self-esteem and insecurity, which impacts on behaviour and thus group work. Many students are admitted to both the Beacon Centre and to Northgate School as day students because of a breakdown with the mainstream school, often following periods of challenging behaviour. Many students find simply entering a room with even a small number of other students such a challenge that they are unable to do so. The lack of confidence in exposing their learning to others is so intense that they self-isolate either by withdrawing from the room or working in isolation away from the group. Our aim is to reengage the students with learning and equip them with the skills and strategies to work with others, raise self-esteem and confidence as well as self-worth to participate with groups to improve performance in academic measures as well as improved attendance, behaviour and enhanced relationships

How we support pupil premium pupils

We expect that

All staff are aware of which students in their classes are Pupil Premium

All teaching staff have indicated students who are Pupil Premium in their planners and have thought about how they will help their progress in lessons

All staff ensure enrichment opportunities and extra-curricular opportunities are available for pupil premium students

the provision for Pupil Premium students is monitored in observations, learning walks, book monitoring and marking monitoring

Ensuring that Pupil Premium students are targeted for additional support and enrichment opportunities

Actual Spending for 2015-16

The following is a breakdown of how our £935.00 Pupil Premium funding allocation for 2015-16 was utilised. In 2015-2016, a small amount of the money delegated by the local authority was used to top up the pupil premium.

Strategy

Year

Amount allocated

1 to 1 support

11

£1170

To protect the identity of our only pupil premium student we have not published their individual results. However, in general terms we are pleased to state that they achieved passes in English and Science at the appropriate level.

Planned spending for 2016-17

The following is a breakdown of how our £2805.00 Pupil Premium funding allocation for 2016-17 will be utilised. In 2016-2017, a small amount of the money delegated by the local authority was also used to top up the pupil premium.

All plans are subject to change as the school continues to evaluate existing strategies in order to focus on the most effective ways to narrow the achievement gap between its most disadvantaged students and the rest of the cohort.

Strategy

Year

Amount allocated

Additional Curriculum groups for English and Maths

11-12

£1170

1 to 1 support

11-12

£1170

Success maker online programme

11-12

£400

Yoga for relaxation and improved concentration

11-12

£1560

Extra curricular activities

11-12

£20

Breakfast club

11-12

£45

How we will measure impact

The impact of the strategies adopted is measured in a number of ways, including:

Academic Achievement and Progress over time

Attitude to Learning over time

Attendance and Punctuality over time

Involvement in curriculum activities

Involvement in tutorial activities and extra-curricular activities

Re-engagement with education

The willingness of the student to engage in a college course or commitment for learning beyond Northgate.

Further Information

If you think your child may be entitled to Free School Meals, we encourage parents to register so that Northgate receives our maximum Pupil Premium entitlement. Please contact Shelly in the school reception at shelly@northgate.barnet.sch.uk if you need any advice on this.